On our way to school I looked in the rear view mirror and noticed Jason was folding his arms with his eyes closed. After a minute he said amen out loud. "I just said a personal prayer in my head mom so that I can have a great day and that you do not need to worry about it later." Thank goodness for sweet little boys who remember to pray. It did help me not worry as much.

I left him today at school, sitting in line waiting for his teacher to take them into their room. Most of the kids were silent, sitting there with scared straight faces, not interacting with each other. As I walked away I watched him stick his tongue through the space where he is missing his front tooth, make a loud funny noise and proceed to make all the quiet boys around him laugh. He was all smiles. I think he is going to love school. I drove home misty eyed thinking about how sad I was that he is growing up so fast.

He came home happily telling me about all his new friends.

And... sticking with Lloyd tradition here is OUR first annual back to school fashion show! Followed by a back to school fathers blessing.

We made it ALL summer with beautifully cool weather. It was wonderful. Here we are now in September with school starting up and the weather has been in the 90's and hot! My parents came to town last weekend so we jumped in the car and made it to the beach one last time for the summer.

This summer we decided that traveling long distances with our two little girls would NOT be fun so we decided to make a "bucket list" of all the fun things we wanted to do around here and check off our list all summer instead.

Back when Benj was in 8th grade he went on a band trip to the Enchanted Forest. We decided to check it out again this week. It is a small amusement park down past Salem Oregon that was built in the 70's and I am pretty sure has not been updated since. But, it is charming, built on a hillside in a wooded area. There are story book houses to walk through, a play to watch, slides, a haunted house, "Indian caves" to explore, a roller coaster, kiddie rides, and a log ride. The kids loved it all and Benj and I got our workout for the day either carrying one of the girls or pushing the double stroller up and down the hills. Here is a quick video.... really quick video... of some of the pictures we took that day.

I always think about taking before pictures, but then we get so excited to get started with our projects I forget! I will just say that it was ugly and outdated. When we first moved in the house the WHOLE thing ( I am talking about walls, ceiling, outlets) was painted a dark awful red. One of the first things we did was paint everything back to white. I was so set on getting rid of the red that I didn't take any pictures of it. I really wish I could show the before picture of that!

So here is a run down of what to come....

*Tape and paint new sheet rock on ceiling

*Install our new soaker tub

*Tile the floor in the same tile we used for the kitchen and dinning room

*Install bead board around the lower half of the walls

*Tile the shower/tub surround using shiny white subway tiles and a strip of decorative glass tiles

*Put in our beautiful new vanity and mirror.

*Hang up new hardware like towel racks and toilet paper holder

*Install new light fixtures

*Make and install new linen closet

*Paint

*Install new door

Hmmmm.... I think that is it! We have have everything bought and waiting for my dear husband to put it all in. I am so lucky he is capable and works so hard!

Ok so now that you have seen what we have picked out I need help picking out a wall color! The bead board is white so I want a color that will contrast nice with that. If you have any suggestions let me know!

This project might take all summer to finish so stay tuned for the after pictures!

I feel like I complain about the weather a lot.... especially this time of year when the highly anticipated sunshine is right around the corner....sorry. But, it has finally warmed up a little and we have had some sunny days. The kids have been in heaven playing in the back yard and I finally got out my camera and took some pictures of them playing today. (sorry picture overload!)

I know, I know.... not only does she have non matching shoes on but, she is wearing two left foot shoes. Sigh.... the girls love to stash things throughout the house. I swear they conspire together and figure out the best places to hide things like binkies, shoes, etc. I gave up looking today and this was the result. No big deal right?!